Call to Action Beyond the Biz Trappings

Scooter Braun expected to speak his mind at Midem keynote

At his Midem keynote address on June 7, Ariana Grande/justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun will “discuss how he has successfully built SB Projects, which is a diversified entertainment and media company with ventures at the intersection of music, film, television, technology, brands, culture and social good.” But anyone who’s seen Braun speak knows that anything could happen. When accepting a humanitarian award at the Music Biz conference in Nashville last month, he used the forum to talk about the importance of giving back and a bit about business, but more about Grande’s bravery in headlining the One Love Manchester benefit concert last year — which Braun and his team organized just two weeks after a terrorist bomb killed 22 people outside Grande’s concert in the city, rallying Coldplay, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Liam Gallagher, Bieber and others to donate their services free of charge — and the role that Nashville could play in pressuring politicians to enact gun control in the U.S. While that goal may be ambitious even for him, if anyone can mobilize the music industry for a greater cause, it’s Braun. “Scooter is a brilliant strategist and businessperson, that goes without saying,” Grande, who parted ways with Braun in 2016 only to rejoin the fold within months, told

Variety last year. “But his best attribute, to me, is that he’s a fiercely loyal person who cares deeply about the artists he represents as human beings, not just as projects.” Indeed, the 36-year-old manager — whose SB Projects’ roster of 20 acts also includes Tori Kelley, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Usher and Black Eyed Peas — has a clear-eyed view of his role in his artists’ and co-workers’ lives, which can also be driving them to be their best selves. “I threw a lot of responsibilities on that lady’s shoulders,” he said of Grande at Music Biz. “She is exactly the role model we all would want her to be.”

— Jem Aswad